My First Thanksgiving in Boston
I think I am getting old, or finally just growing up. I deleted Tik Tok. After 6 years of scrolling for hours on end, I am finally free. Sort of. I still redownload it from time to time but in general I am off the app. My next big step, deactivating Instagram. Endless scrolling has taken over social media. Even LinkedIn has its own version of reels.
I first deleted Tik Tok temporarily this summer during my internship and it was absolutely amazing. Gone were the nights of staying up until 3:00 AM scrolling with no intent of stopping until I fell asleep. I was rested, focused, and excited about life. When I finally returned to the app after the summer, the enchantment was gone. The sense of disillusionment slowly spread from one app to another. I deleted Snapchat after nearly 8 years on the app. Then Facebook, which I only had for family and did not use anyway. Then Twitter (I refuse to call it X). Now my final task is Instagram, possibly the hardest task to beat. I probably will not delete the app entirely, I have accounts I need access to for student organizations and business, but as for my personal account…it is only a matter of time. This semester I realized just how addicting and distracting social media is. There is so much content readily available to consume almost infinitely, but at the cost of losing yourself to the screen. This past month, I realized something important to me, investing in the relationships I have with friends and family, and being intentional about sustaining those relationships. Social media had been blocking that. Nothing made me realize this more than Thanksgiving break.
For the break this year, I stayed on campus. It was my first time not leaving campus to be with family on the holiday. Normally I go to Atlanta for Thanksgiving but this year I really wanted to go back home to California. However, one thing you do not think about when you go across the country for school is how much a cross Thanksgiving week plane ticket costs. So in an effort to save money, I stayed on campus. I learned a lot about myself from this. One, I cherish family time and the holiday season dearly. Watching Thanksgiving through FaceTime and hearing all the laughs and family banter sessions was difficult. My mom and I definitely agreed that next year, I will be back home.
My time in Boston, however, was not a bad experience by any means. My friends always amaze me at how caring they are, and once again they showed it. We spent the entire week together, going to holiday markets, having black movie marathons, and going to see Wicked. One of my friends shared with me that Thanksgiving is not a major holiday in their family, but they knew how important it is to me, so they wanted to make it as special as we could while at school, which meant a lot.
From this past week, I developed a personal resolution. No, this is not a New Year’s resolution, but a general resolution for life: Be intentional in spending time with others and show care for those that show care for you.